I started this thread on another forum, but I don't really go there anymore so I'm re-doing it here. I won't just copy paste and I'll just tell the story right, so I'll do it in multiple posts. I found this forum recently and I really like it so far. It reminds me of Sport Compact Car, which used to be my go-to magazine when I was 15-16 and getting interested into cars. Go fast for cheap. Use what you got to improve your car. True hot rodding.
I had this 1992 190E 2.3 since May 2014. At first I didn't have much plans for it except for just driving it. It was reliable back then and I took a huge roadtrip by myself in it, all around the USA. Then, I found a lot of rust on it, re-did the whole chassis, welded it back up and slowly built it to a point where only the engine is left stock and while the engine itself is good, everything around it is broken and falling apart now. My plan is to clean the stock engine up, Megasquirt it and put a manual transmission behind it. It won't rocket to 60 MPH in 4 seconds, but I just want it to be reliable, crisp and somehow a little faster.
The Mercedes scene is a tough one. A lot is gentlemen who can afford to go to the Merc dealer to pick up parts to restore their 560SEC back to stock, complete with 300 HP ECE engines and genuine AMG monoblock wheels. Most posts you see on forums start with one guy asking how to make his 2.3 8V better and some guy ends the thread by saying "get a 16V if you want speed", "don't change the operating parameters", "don't try to outsmart the German engineer who designed this system!". There are some exceptions, but it's nothing like the BMW scene.
First, a little background and intro. I used to be in the slammed-on-nutz VW scene. Back then, I built this Mk2 Jetta:
It had a 2.0l ABA swap with a Garrett T25 turbo from a Turbo Sunbird that some guy gave me for free. It ran on a C2 map, 440cc injectors, TIG'd aluminum piping, ebay intercooler, ebay manifold, 1.8t diverter valve, etc. It could build its 10 psi by 2600 RPM and that was enough to light just one of the 2 stretched Falken 512's for the remainder of 2nd gear, providing you lifted if you hit bumps in the road because that could either grenade the glass 020 transmission or a rock could get lodged in the 1" between the (checker-plate reinforced) oil pan and lift the engine enough to hit the backside of the hood. In other words it was a lot of fun but it could've been more fun with sticky tires and better suspension than my 300$ Raceland coils. I also had a 500$ Volvo 940 N/A as a winter car back then. To this day, I think that was the coolest car I owned. Simple, robust, reliable, RWD and beige:
In 2014, I sold the VW and the Volvo because I wanted to drive Route 66 when I finished university. I didn't want to drive 15000 km at 4200 RPM or risk the Volvo so I sold both of them to fund another car. I originally wanted to pick up either a W124 300E or an E34 6-cyl. There were none for sale at that moment and gas was expensive here in Quebec back then. Then I saw this little 1992 190E 2.3 automatic for sale a couple streets down and went to see it. There was a hole in the rad and holes in the floor but it felt right driving it. I payed the guy and brought the thing back to my parent's place:
I did some basic maintenance to it and changed the rad. Here, a lot of people shoot their cars with used oil or other crap to keep the rust off. When you buy an old car, it is either coated with the stuff (and rusty underneath) or clean (and more rusty). This one is the first type.
The engine is a CIS-injected 2.3 four cylinder. It had (still has them) small issues but in general it was reliable back then. I needed to daily this and had about 10 months to get it ready for the trip. I'll spare you the boring stuff and jump straight to the more important stuff.
It had trouble starting. I pulled the plugs:
Looks like it burned oil too. That's cool because you can go longer between oil change intervals as you change the oil little by little. Gotta see the positive side of things too.
I refinished the ugly, purple faded parcel shelf:
Most importantly, got proper suspension. Brand new Bilstein B8 sports with used Eibach springs I found in the classifieds:
It didn't make the oil pan touch the ground like I expected from a 1000$ setup (dumb kid haha) but hey, I discovered something new: handling.
Right before the USA roadtrip, I parked it for 1 month and worked on it non-stop to get it ready. I did brakes, all new steering linkage, patched some rust (no welder back then = piece of metal + POR-patch + POR 15), greased the mono-wiper (cool piece), painted the wheels, 195/50/15 Kumho PA31 tires, e-code headlights:
I also found out 1 of the causes why it burned so much oil: dry valve stem seals. Common issue on M102 and M103 engines. The fun part is that they're only about 10$ for 8 and you can replace them with the head on. I didn't have the adapter fitting to run a compressed air hose in my spark plug holes to hold the valves up. One guy on some forum said: just run a yellow rope in the hole and fill the cylinder with it. I did that. You know when you put your headphones in your pocket and magically they make a knot by themselves? Apparently rope does that when shoved in cynlinders. I lucked out and managed to pull the rope. Only got 7 seals done because on #4's exhaust the firewall got in the way of my valve spring compressor.
After a lot of work the car was ready to go:
It did the trip good. No breakdowns. I'm tired now, I'll tell you the rest of the story later.